DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
FRANCISCO
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
is published monthly by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral,
10300 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98133-9410.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
OCW, 10300 Ashworth Ave. N., Seattle, WA. 98133-9410
Fr. Neketas S. Palassis, Editor Email: frneketas@stnectariospress.com
Telephone (206) 522-4471; (800) 643-4233 U.S. & Canada;
Fax: 206-523-0550
OCTOBER, 2006, Vol. XL, No. 10 (1565)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
2. A DICHOTOMY OF FAITH
3. THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS
4. PROPHECIES OF ST. COSMAS AITOLOS
5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
The more closely attentive you are to your mind, the greater the
longing with which you will pray to Jesus; and the more carelessly you
examine your mind, the further you will separate yourself from Him.
Just as close attentiveness brilliantly illumines the mind, so the
lapse from watchfulness and from the sweet invocation of Jesus will
darken it completely. All this happens naturally, not in any other way;
and you will experience it if you test it out in practice. For there is
no virtue - least of all this blessed light-generating activity - which
cannot be learnt from experience.
St Hesychius, On Watchfulness & Holiness, Philokalia
1. THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Keeping faith with Christ yesterday, today, and unto the ages
One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism
One God and Father of all
The Orthodox Christian Church can clearly trace its roots historically
back to the first Church in Jerusalem, where the Church began and the
Apostle James was the first bishop. Then, as the Church spread into
Antioch, Alexandria and eventually all parts of the world, those who
were ordained by the Apostles and their successors continued to spread
and guard the Christian faith into the next and succeeding generations,
down to the present time. Many of the early successors to the Apostles
wrote letters to their flocks, just as the Apostles had done. In these
letters, they explain and teach the faith as they received it from the
Apostles. These writings can still be read today and include such names
as Polycarp, Ignatius, Iraeneus, Clement, Cyril, Athanasius, Basil, and
Chrysostom. The Orthodox Church traces its life and teachings from the
Apostles, through their successors, to the present day, holding the
same Faith unchanged.
The Orthodox Church has given birth to millions of believers through
the centuries. It has also offered up millions of martyrs under
Idolator, Muslim and Communist governments. Over 200 million people,
mostly in Russia, Greece and the Balkans, claim to be Orthodox today.
Many people are not aware that for the first 1,000 years of Church
history there was only one Christian Church in the entire world holding
the same doctrine, the same worship, and the same way of life and
government. The myriad of new and conflicting groups that exist today,
all claiming to be the various Churches of Christ, is a modern
phenomenon, unknown in the early Church. For those first 1,000 years,
the Church was simply known as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church. The word Orthodox was added later to distinguish those who
continued to hold the Apostolic Faith unchanged from those who were
introducing changes yet still calling themselves the Christian Church.
The word Orthodox means true teaching and true worship - the glory of
the Church.
Likewise, many are not aware that all the questions and debates about
what the Christian Faith is or isn't, and what the Church should or
shouldn't believe and teach, and how the Bible should or shouldn't be
interpreted have already been decided by the Church in the first 1,000
years. When questions and debates arose about various beliefs, the
Church's bishops, the successors to the Apostles, gathered in councils
to clarify what the Church had received from the Apostles and held from
the beginning. The first such council is recorded already in the
fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and is known as the
Council of Jerusalem. This became the pattern for resolving debates and
questions. Over the next several hundred years there were seven such
major or worldwide councils and numerous local councils that clarified
and explained the true and correct understanding of the Christian
Faith. From these councils came the Christian understanding of the
Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the determination of which books to
include in the New Testament, and many other clarifications and
explanations of the Orthodox Christian Faith.
Christ the Savior taught that He would build His Church and the gates
of hell would not prevail against it. He also told His disciples that
the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into all truth. Because of faith
in the promises of Christ, Orthodox Christians believe that the Church
which Christ established has been preserved in unity by the Holy Spirit
down through the centuries and will exist to the end of time among
those who hold the Apostolic doctrine, worship, and way of life
unchanged.
But today there are about as many different understandings and
interpretations of the Bible and the Christian Faith as there are
people. From Martin Luther, to Charles Finney, to Alexander Campbell,
to Joseph Smith, to Benny Hinn and countless others, with new ones
appearing everyday, there are thousands of different interpretations of
the Bible. Because of individual interpretations, there are also
thousands of different groups and denominations. Each one claims to be
the Church of Christ, to follow nothing but the Bible, and to be led by
the same Holy Spirit even though they hold different and conflicting
beliefs. We know this cannot be true since the Holy Spirit does not
contradict Himself, and, according to the Bible itself, there is only
one Christian Faith and one Christian Church just as there is only one
true God. Someone has jokingly but correctly quipped, "The Reformation
rejected the pope but ended up making as many popes as there are
individuals."
In the final analysis our own personal beliefs and interpretations
about the Christian Faith matter very little. One may be as good or as
bad as another. What is important is what the Church has always taught
and held unchanged from the beginning to the present.
The Church has always taught that truth is not determined by individual
opinions or by "private interpretations" (II Peter 1:20) but by that
truth which the Holy Spirit established through the Apostles that has
been preserved and handed down through the Church unchanged in each
succeeding generation to the present day. The Bible calls this the
"Faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3) and tells us to
hold fast to the Apostolic Tradition that has been handed down, both
spoken and written (II Thess. 2:15). To allow for numerous different
Christian Faiths and numerous private interpretations is to render the
Christian Faith relative and uncertain. To reduce the truth to just one
or a few beliefs would mean that much of what Christ and the Apostles
taught is of little or no value or importance, as would be their
teachings about the Church, how we are saved, and how we are to work
out our salvation within the Church. Furthermore, it would ignore the
teachings of Christ Himself who told His Apostles to make disciples by
"teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20).
From the earliest recorded history of the Church, we see that the
beliefs of the Church were set forth in creeds or statements of faith
(creed simply means "I believe") in order to clarify the teachings and
make it easy for people to understand and remember. The major and
universal creed of the Church was hammered out by the first two
Ecumenical (worldwide) Councils at Nicea in A.D 325 and at
Constantinople A.D. 381, by some of the same bishops who also
determined and confirmed which books would be included in the New
Testament. The Nicene Creed was in response to those who taught things
about Christ and the Holy Spirit that were contrary to the Apostolic
Teachings. The Nicene Creed acted as a fence to guard the True Faith of
the Church and provides a brief summary of the teachings of the
Orthodox Christian Church.
Taken from the new publication of the same name by the Holy Orthodox
Church in North America.
The entire pamphlet is available from St. Nectarios Press
_______________________________________________________________________
2. A DICHOTOMY OF FAITH
by Joseph Bragg
The involvement of many bishops in Ecumenism and Modernism is a great
betrayal of the Orthodox Faith that has resulted in much confusion in
the world of Orthodoxy.
This confusion centers on how to deal with and respond to bishops who
teach and promote things that contradict and betray the Orthodox
Faith. Some say we must separate ourselves from false bishops
while others say it is enough to simply protest. Others try to
ignore them and go on as though the bishop doesn't matter.
In Protestantism, bishops don't matter. Each local congregation
is pretty much independent and if there is an affiliation with a larger
group, the opinions of the leadership are pretty much ignored and
viewed as private opinions if people at the local level don't like what
they do or say.
But the Orthodox understanding of the role of the bishop is very
different. The office of the bishop is understood to be an
Apostolic institution necessary to the Faith and Unity of the
Church. There can be no local congregation without a bishop, and
local congregations and individuals are not at liberty to hold a faith
different from that of the bishop.
But today, the Protestant understanding of the independence of the
local congregation and the individual has been adopted by many in
Orthodoxy, resulting in a dichotomy of Faith.
There is actually a dichotomy of Faith that takes place on two levels.
First, there is a dichotomy of Faith among those who betray the
Orthodox Faith. When speaking to an Orthodox audience, what they
say and teach often sounds very Orthodox. But when speaking to an
Ecumenical or political audience, what they say often betrays the
Orthodox Faith. While on the one hand they appear to defend the
Orthodox Faith, at the same time they betray it by their words,
affiliations, and participation in joint worship services with Roman
Catholics, liberal Protestants, and even non-Christian religions. This
dichotomy of Faith by priests and bishops results in much confusion
among the faithful as to what to believe about their leaders and how to
react.
Second, there is a dichotomy of Faith among many who oppose the
betrayals of Ecumenism and Modernism. Some give the impression that
they can hold their own personal Orthodox Faith on the one hand, and on
the other hand remain under bishops whom they know are holding and
teaching a contrary Faith. Some even speak out against the
heresies of Ecumenism and Modernism but then remain in communion with
and under bishops who promote both even though they know that Holy
Scripture, and all the Fathers, and all the Councils, tell us to flee
from heresy and have no communion with it.
Some say they believe in one Church, one
Faith, and one Baptism but then they commemorate a patriarch and/or
bishop who by his public affiliations, teachings, and practices holds
that there are many Churches, many Faiths and many Baptisms.
Does not our Orthodox Faith teach us that we cannot
hold a Faith different from the Faith of our bishop? That the
Faith of the bishop commemorated on our altar is our Faith since we
drink from the same cup? In Orthodoxy, there can be no dichotomy
of Faith between our personal Faith and that of our bishop.
The acceptance of the dichotomy of Faith on the part of those who
oppose the betrayals of Orthodoxy by their hierarchs seems to grow out
of an unrecognized or unintentional Western understanding of the nature
of the Church. Consequently, many in World Orthodoxy say, "We
don't believe or approve what our Ecumenist patriarchs and bishops say
and practice, but we don't want to upset the unity of the Church.
But does not our Orthodox Faith teach us that the unity of the Church
is not derived from an external affiliation and organization but rather
by the unity of the Faith as held and publicly confessed by our
bishop? Is it not true that there is no unity of the Church where
the Faith of the Church is betrayed? Is it not the Orthodox
understanding that to betray the Orthodox Faith is to separate from the
unity of the Church?
How can these dichotomies of Faith be?
Are they not contrary to the Orthodox Faith? How can two walk
together unless they be agreed? How can a house divided against
itself stand? Can a fountain bring forth sweet and bitter water
at the same time? Did not St. James warn us that a double minded
man is unstable in all his ways and urge the double minded to purify
their hearts (James 1:8; 4:8).
In the final analysis, it is what we publicly proclaim and confess by
our actions and affiliations that reveal our true beliefs more than our
words, and it is the Faith of our bishop that determines the Faith that
we hold and in which we commune.
________________________________________________________________________
3. THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS
I will walk among you, and you shall by My people (Lev. 26: 12).
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
In the calendar of Saints of the Orthodox Catholic Church you will find
names of men, women and children from every walk of life, the most
humble, as well as the most exalted. You will find members of almost
every nation, race or tribe, and of every profession and calling.
However, there is one thing that they will all share. Each saint in his
own personal way walked with God. By reading these lives you will be
inspired and moved to do as they did. From them you too can learn how
to walk humbly with God. Saint John the Divine reminds us: He who says
he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same path in which He walked
(I John 2:6). Their example is a good example because, first of all and
above all, they walked in the same path that Christ Jesus walked.
The Saints and their lives are important to us because in their lives
they mirrored the life of Christ. Each Saint received the Light of
Christ and reflected it into the world. We know that if a mirror is to
reflect an accurate and undistorted image, it must be itself as
perfect, clear and pure as possible. The importance of the example of
the life of a Saint is directly related to his life as a follower of
Christ. No mirror can reflect light unless it is facing the light, so
all true Saints lived out their lives in the full Light of Christ.
Above all a Saint is and remains an individual. In following Christ he
does not lose his individuality; rather, in Christ his individuality
becomes more perfect, more pure and more complete.
As we study the lives of Saints we see how they followed Christ, and we
learn how to follow Him in order that we too might grow unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (EPH. 4: 13). The life
of a Saint is his personal experience in the Church of Christ, which we
are privileged to share with him. From the Saint's life we can gain a
new insight into our own Christian life. The Saints reveal to us how
the Grace of God and the power of His love work in the lives of men.
God transforms by His Grace and man's cooperation the most ordinary
life into that of a real and great Christian Hero, or Saint. A
worthless and wasted life, like that of Mary of Egypt, is changed into
a glorious, a wondrous and luminous personality. These luminous and
glorious lives become like the stars that shine in the heavens. They
become fixed guiding stars for those who travel on land or sea or in
the air in God's world.
In the early Church, when the memory of the Apostles, and even of
Christ, was still very much alive, all members of the Church were
called Saints. The faithful Christian is a saint not because his life
is perfect or without sin, but because he has entered into and has
become a participant in the perfect and good life of the Church, which
is the Body of Christ. It is this life which is redeemed by Christ, and
sanctified (made holy) by the Holy Spirit. However, today we usually
reserve the name Saint for those who are not only faithful Christians
because they are members of the Body of Christ, but those who having
entered into this life have made creative and abundant use of the Grace
that God had given them in His Life. For this reason they have been
glorified by the Church, and are set aside to be followed and to be
called Saints.
There are as many kinds of Saints as there are ways of following in the
Way of Christ. There are hermit saints, who left the world and lived in
isolated areas where they meditated and prayed and fought the
temptations and passions of the evil spirits. There are Priest saints -
bishops, priests and deacons. They administered the Mysteries of the
Church. They preached the Gospel. They taught others the Way of Christ
by word and example. They lived in the world, but they never allowed
themselves to become tied down to the world. There were saints from the
ordinary walk of life who lived simple but holy lives. Finally, there
were martyrs and sufferers, who made the supreme sacrifice for the
Truth that is Christ. They all tried to walk humbly with God in the
paths of Truth. They received the Crowns in Heaven that were promised
by God: Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life
(Rev. 2: 10). As we sing during the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony and of
Ordination: "O Holy Martyrs, who fought the good fight and have
received your crowns. . . ."
The Church reminds us in many other ways that we are all members of the
family or Community of Saints. Our churches are always decorated with
icons of Christ and the Saints, as well as events from the life of
Christ and the Saints. These icons have sometimes been called "windows
into Heaven," because they help us to gain a vision of the glory and
beauty of God's Kingdom. The walls of our churches reflect the glory of
God in color, like the Saints in Heaven reflect His Glory by their
lives.
The Bishop, or Priest, or Deacon censes the church, the icons and the
faithful during the services. In this ritual action we are reminded
that we have been called to the saintly life, a life of purity and
holiness, that we might worthily worship God. The Church also calls us
to unite with the Saints in love and faith to worship God in the Holy
Trinity. We who live in the world, comprising the Church Militant,
unite with the Saints in Heaven, the Church Triumphant, to offer our
common prayers of glory, praise and thanksgiving to God the Father,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. In the prayers of the Church we are reminded many times of this
intimate fellowship which we have with the Saints; for example, the
commemoration which ends many litanies, "the holy, all pure, most
blessed and glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, with all the
Saints, let us commit ourselves and each other and all our life unto
Christ our God."
Our unity and oneness in Christ Jesus is so vividly expressed in the
prayers and ritual of the Church, and which is so beautifully portrayed
in the icons, is also graphically pictured (imaged) in the mystical
offering of the Divine Liturgy where prayer, ritual, icons, man and
angels unite in a harmonious symphony of worship of God.
In the Liturgy of Oblation, during which the offering of bread, wine
and water is prepared for the Holy Communion, the Priest cuts from the
first offering bread (prosphora) a large cube, called the LAMB of God,
which is placed on the Paten. From the second offering bread the Priest
cuts a pyramid of bread in memory of the Theotokos (Mother of God), and
this is placed on the right of the Lamb of God. From the third offering
bread the Priest cuts nine smaller pyramids of bread in memory of the
nine ranks of Saints: first John the Baptist, then the Prophets, the
Apostles, the Martyrs, the Teachers, the Healers and all the Saints,
known and unknown. From the fourth offering bread small particles are
taken in memory of the Living, and from the fifth in memory of the
Dead. These are placed at the foot of the Lamb of God. In this graphic
image of bread on the Paten the Church portrays the Offering of the
Eucharist as an offering of the Church, the One Holy Body of Christ,
which is offered up to God with these words: "Thine own, of Thine own,
we offer unto Thee, in behalf of all and for all." As we worship, so we
offer ourselves up to God, with love and unity and oneness.
In the Mystery (Sacrament) of Holy Matrimony the Christian couple
receive from the Church crowns in anticipation of heavenly crowns which
will be given to all who have faithfully "walked in God's commandments
with a pure heart." While wearing these crowns the husband and wife
with their hands joined are led by the Priest around the table on which
are the Gospel and the Cross. In this ritual action the Church shows
the couple how they must walk with God in the way of Truth and with a
pure heart if they are to be worthy of their high calling, with the
Gospel and the Cross as the center of their lives together, for Blessed
is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will
receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him
(James 1: 12).
At the burial of a faithful Orthodox Catholic the Church places on his
forehead a symbolic crown. The faithful Christian, having completed the
course of this life, is now ready to stand before the dread judgement
seat of Christ, and the Church prays that he will indeed be able to
give a good answer, that he will be found worthy to receive the
unfading crown of glory (I Peter 5:4).
When we study the lives of Saints we learn that no matter how great was
the gift of God's power and grace given, each individual Saint had to
apply the gift in his life. He had to make use of the gift, and this
was never easy. He was beset by many temptations. The greatest of these
was to follow the example of the wicked servant in the parable - to
bury the talent; or that of the Prodigal Son - to waste it in riotous
living. However, the true Saint was able to overcome temptations, and
to win the battle against evil. It took all the great qualities and
virtues of Christian living to win the battle: humility, patience,
meekness, hunger and thirst for spiritual truth, mercifulness, purity
of heart, peace of soul, courage, and patient perseverance. Each of the
lives illustrates one of these virtues as they are revealed to us in
the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Saints accepted God's Gift. They put it to test in their own lives.
They passed the test, and received the promised reward: Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven (Matt. 5:12).
Whatever their task, they had labored well in the knowledge that they
served the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord they would
receive the reward of the inheritance (Col. 3: 23-24).
Let us read their lives, and from them learn how to live the Christian
life as it must be lived to be worthy of the Life-giver, our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, Who purchased by His suffering and death our
inheritance, eternal life. Christ our Lord prayed thus for those who
believe in Him:
Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me:
for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous
Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and those
have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them My
name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me
may be in them, and I in them (John 17:24-26).
Let us also, the faithful in the Church Militant, offer our prayers to
God and call at the same time the Saints to come to our help, that they
who stand near to God, by their prayers and intercessions, may purify,
strengthen and offer before God our faithful prayers that we too may
receive Eternal Life.
-Very Rev. Vladimir Borichevsky
________________________________________________________________________
4. PROPHECIES OF ST. COSMAS AITOLOS
"... As at the time of Noah people did not believe but were
mocking, until suddenly the wrath of God and the flood came and it
drowned all the people. Likewise now also, my Christians, at the Second
Coming of Christ people will not believe... The words I tell you are
not mine, they are the words of the All-Holy Spirit... and whoever
wants, let him believe. Nevertheless, each one is free and will do as
he wants. I am doing my obligation..."
"... Prior to the Second Coming of Christ, the Antichrist will be born
and he will do so many evils in the world, and will name himself the
son of God and will stand as a king to order the whole world and do
miracles, according to fantasy, to deceive people to confess him as
Christ; and whoever believes in him he will promise goods, and
afterwards he will mark them on the forehead... and it is better that
they are tyrannized and be killed rather than to believe him and be
marked..."
"... I believe that these things, my brethren, startled you... and I
who tell them tremble and cower; but what can I do in that I have the
obligation to reveal them to you? ... After these evils of the accursed
Antichrist, the All-holy Cross will shine above in the sky..."
________________________________________________________________________
5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
(POB) THE PRINCE OF BELVEDERE AND OTHER POEMS by Ephraim
Figueroa. A collection of simply written verses, from narratives
to odes to limericks, acrostics and sonnets. These rhymes will delight
young and old with their clarity, variety and charm. 151pp.
Cloth d$17.00
(TUA) TELL US ABOUT THE ANGELS, GRANDMA! The Appearance
and Miracles of the Angels by Georgia Hronas. Ten brief accounts
from the Old and New Testament and lives of saints told by Grandma to
her Grandchildren at bedtime. A welcome addition to the "Grandma"
series. Line icons. 82pp. Paper e$13.00
(SJL) ST. JOHN OF SHANGHAI and SAN FRANCISCO and other
lives. The life and an account of the glorification of St. John, a
miracle-worker who lived in our times. This volume also includes the
lives of St. Isaacius the Younger of Optina, Matryrs Alexander and
Antonina and St. Martinian the Monk. 62pp. Paper
e$8.00